Greens: Electric car infrastructure needs to be sparked by Govt

The Government is replacing its current Crown cars with a brand new fleet of diesel BMWs.

But Opposition parties say it's a missed opportunity to go green, and the Government should look at a more environmentally friendly option, such as electric cars.

The Government looked at nine options before settling on the 32 BMW 730Lds, which will be progressively introduced from December.

Green Party transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter says the Government needs to lead the way in introducing greener options on the road and building up the necessary infrastructure.

"If the Government had a priority to introduce electric cars into New Zealand, which it supposedly does – it's certainly talked about that a lot – and its priority was to have electric cars for our ministers, then certainly there would be more incentive to get that infrastructure put in place," Ms Genter told the Paul Henry programme this morning.